Chapter Twenty-Eight

My Loyalty Lies With . . .

Yuki dashed back into the school and twisted down the hallways that led to her classroom. When she skidded to a halt inside, she saw that at least half of the students had left already. Haku, Piko, and Yuuma were replacing books on the bookshelves after others had careless thrown them on the ground and departed from the classroom without helping out. Neru was lying on her side on the carpeted floor, her elbow digging into the ground as she rested her head on her hand. Mizki was sitting before her, speaking animatedly to the blonde and not helping the others at all. Yuki was forced to acknowledge that Ryuto wasn't being very helpful, either, since the boy was sitting on his own a little ways away from any of the other students, flipping absently through the pages of a book Yuki knew he couldn't read. As a couple more of her classmates made their way out of the classroom with their kindergarten partners, Yuki headed toward Ryuto and bent at the knees to get closer to his eye level. He looked up, his eyes brightening when he spotted her.

"Ryuto, I asked you to help out everyone while I was gone," she chided gently, trying to seem stern. She couldn't find it in herself to be too harsh, however, when he looked at her with those big puppy dog eyes.

"Mizki's not helping neither," Ryuto mumbled defensively, looking away with the smallest hint of a pout.

Either, Yuki corrected to herself. She'd been told only to correct misspeaking every ten or so times so as not to damage the kindergartner's self esteem. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't help."

It didn't take more than that to get Ryuto to stand and toddle over to a book that had been left on the ground. He looked at Yuki, waiting for her to join him, but she righted herself and headed over to Neru. She felt Ryuto continuing to stare at her, but she knew that looking back would make her feel so guilty that she'd help him, enabling him to cling to her as he always did.

"C'mon, Neru, get to work," Yuki commanded the other girl. Then, to the companion kindergartener, she added, "You too, Mizki."

"Hey, Yuki, Piko told us he's staying at your place," Neru remarked, completely ignoring Yuki's words. Yuki withheld a sigh and rolled her eyes. Neru was a difficult girl, definitely. The blonde's eyes were glimmering with mischief as she mused, "Bet you're regretting not having sexy pyjamas now, huh?"

Yuki's cheeks burned bright red, and she turned her head away with a pout to hide her embarrassment. "Don't be silly. It's just Pi-chan."

"Wow, Piko just got rejected," Neru laughed. Yuki's cheeks turned a brighter red when she looked toward Piko, who had turned at the sound of his name. He must not have heard what they said, though, or was choosing to ignore it.

"Get to work, Neru," Piko ordered. "Stop being a bad example for Mizki."

Mizki leapt to her feet, alarmingly enough, but, much to the boy's dismay, she dashed immediately to Ryuto, who had picked a book off the ground and was slowly searching for others. "Ryu-chan, let's work together!" she chirped, beaming at him.

Ryuto scowled, shocking Yuki. He usually just ran away whenever Mizki or any of his classmates tried to talk to him. "Don't call me that."

Mizki just giggled, though, and gripped onto Ryuto's arm. His discontent was nearly palpable. "C'mon, Ryu-chan, it's cute! And you can call me Mi-tan."

"No," he replied simply.

Yuki stood absolutely still as she watched, her heart soaring. Finally. He was finally talking to one of his classmates. He wasn't really being nice, of course, but at least he was talking.

"Hey, Yuki, if I gotta work, so do you," Neru snapped. Yuki hadn't even noticed that the girl had begun working at tidying up the puzzle-piece mats that had been reorganized throughout the day. "Come help me."

"Yeah, I'm coming," Yuki replied, making her way over to Neru as she kept an eye on Ryuto. Despite his harsh words, Mizki was still holding onto him and helping him pick up books. Yuki continued to watch them as she worked, smiling. Ryuto had taken a big step today. Yuki was so happy, she didn't know if anything could bring her down.

Once everything had been tidied, Neru and Haku walked Mizki and Yuuma out and headed off on their own. Piko lingered by the doorway for Yuki to finish equipping Ryuto with his winter gear. Piko's mood was a little sour, Yuki noticed, but she knew better than to talk about it. He'd cheer up eventually, she was sure.

"Yuki," came Ryuto's soft voice as he tugged on her sleeve when they reached the doorway. "Mama's meeting me at the front gate."

That was his way of asking her to bring him there, so she smiled softly and said, "Sure, we'll take you there. That's where my Mom usually picks me up, anyway."

"Is Iroha walking us home?" Piko questioned, swinging onto Yuki's other side as they began to walk out of the school.

Yuki shook and explained, "It's usually Rin taking me in the morning and Iroha picking me up afterschool, but Iroha's working late, I guess."

"What does she do?" Piko asked.

Yuki grinned. She'd been waiting for someone to ask. She'd asked Rin, once, and had spent fifteen minutes memorizing the name. "Rin is an executive specializing in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration, and Iroha is an editor-in-chief for a women's magazine." She added, "Rin usually drops me off a bit earlier so that she gets to work on time, but Iroha's always here right on time."

"Miki was wondering," Piko said to explain his asking. "She didn't understand how they could manage to get you here and back everyday. She really wanted to help them out, but they both made it clear that they didn't want help."

A gust of ice-cold wind blasted through Yuki's clothes and straight to her bones when she opened the door to the outside. Resisting the shiver that threatened to shake her entire body, she braved her way outside. It was better than it had been when she'd dashed out with nothing but her boots on.

Yuki looked toward the front gate to see if Rin was still waiting there, a ripple of shock running through her when she saw a splash of green against the grey landscape. Her legs itched to run, but she careful kept herself at the same constant pace. Her eyes weren't good enough to really make out more than the women's outlines from this distance, which only made her want to run more. A few seconds later, her willpower shattered, and she tore her hand from Ryuto's, muttering a quick, "I'm sorry. I really need to check this out."

"Yuki?" Piko wondered, but Yuki had already taken off. Going as fast as her legs could carry her, she began to run toward her mother. The other woman must have noticed Yuki in her peripheral vision, because, while she had been incredibly close to Rin a moment ago, she drew back and smiled at Yuki.

Yuki came to a halt in front of the two, out of breath, and glanced between them. Her stomach lurched when she saw Rin's face. Her mother was frozen stiff, looking absolutely petrified as she stared at the greenette. It was instinct that caused Yuki to take a step in front of Rin, but she couldn't understand at all why Rin was scared. She had no reason to be. This woman wasn't evil. She couldn't be.

"Hello, Yuki," came the green-haired woman's melodious voice. "Long time no see. I heard that you found a home."

Yuki was torn. She felt horrible for taking a defensive stance before Rin, to be protecting her from Gumi, but Rin looked so scared that she knew there had to be something wrong. "Hi, Auntie," she said carefully.

Len had never liked Gumi, Yuki recalled. He'd never explained why, though, even when Yuki had asked. He said that there was someone else who should tell her, that it wasn't his place. Still, he'd always kept a close eye on Gumi whenever she came to visit Yuki, even though she usually only came when he did. Yuki had always valued Gumi; how could she not when Gumi and Len were the only ones who'd ever taken any interest in her? Maybe she'd been blind, then, if both Len and Rin seemed to have something against Gumi? But, no, Yuki couldn't believe that. Not her Gumi, her Auntie, the one who'd visited her all these years.

"You've grown a little cold, Yuki," Gumi said with a smile like honey. "Trying to live up to your name, I suppose?" She laughed a little, and Yuki did her best not to waver. No matter how she felt for Gumi, it was Rin that was most important right now, always. Gumi seemed to notice the hardness in Yuki's eyes, however, so she smiled and remarked, "I'll leave you to go home, then. I hope you won't always look at me with those horrible eyes, though, Yuki." Yuki's guilt was a sharp pain in her chest, and she desperately wanted to apologize. However, she knew that Rin needed her, and Rin was more important than anyone to the girl. "After all, I took care of you much longer than she did. So much longer."

"Mama?" came Ryuto's voice. Yuki looked to her side for a moment to see that Piko and Ryuto had caught up, standing a little ways away. Piko seemed to be holding Ryuto back. Was he trying to protect him for Yuki's sake? In any case, it wasn't just Yuki that was shocked by Ryuto's words, for his eyes widened in shock, as well.

Yuki looked to Gumi as the woman turned her gaze onto Ryuto. "Hello, Ryuto. Are you ready to go home? Did you have a good day?"

Ryuto shook off Piko as the boy tried to hold him back and dashed toward the woman. Yuki froze, her confusion lasting for a moment before she realized how similar Ryuto and Gumi were. They shared the same green hair and green eyes, and his face was the same shape as hers. She probably could've guessed it if she was given a clue, but, if Ryuto had those marks, and Gumi was his mother, did that mean . . . ?

No, she didn't have time to think about that, and, though she wished she could rip Ryuto away from Gumi and take him with her, Yuki saw that Ryuto's eyes held the same trust when he held Gumi's hand as it did when he held hers. She knew she had to get out of here quickly, for Rin's sake, so she had to let him go, for now, at least. So, Yuki turned her back on her Auntie and gently took Rin's hand, tugging on her to force her to take a step. "C'mon, Mom, we have to go. We should have dinner ready when Mama gets home, shouldn't we?"

"Mama? You have someone else living with you, Yuki?" Gumi questioned, genuinely curious. She still sounded nice, like the kind of person Yuki should have been allowed to trust, but Yuki wasn't sure how she felt about Gumi anymore. Between Len's distrust of the woman, Rin's reaction right now, and the marks on Ryuto, she wasn't sure how to believe that the nice woman who'd always visited her at the orphanage was this same woman.

"Yes," was all Yuki replied to that. Would saying Iroha's name be the wrong thing to do right now? She thought it might, so she held it back. Instead, she bowed politely to the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but we really have to go." She looked to her best friend, her eyes begging him to help, and wondered, "Right, Piko?"

"Piko?" Gumi wondered, testing out the name and looking to the boy it belonged to. She seemed thrown off now, juxtaposing her confidence not moments before.

"Yeah, let's go," he agreed, hopping to Rin's other side and taking the woman's hand without question. "We don't want to be late. The teacher assigned homework. She's not as awesome as Miki."

Yuki glanced back at Gumi and Ryuto one last time, seeing a flash of confusion in the woman's eyes at the foreign name, but Gumi smiled the moment she caught Yuki's gaze. "Take care, Yuki, Rin dearest. You too, little Piko."

Piko looked back at her coldly, not bothering to censor his immediate dislike for the woman. Yuki was a little grateful, though she worried that, between the two of them, Gumi might be really hurt, but the woman didn't seem to mind and simply waved farewell. Ryuto waved a small goodbye to Yuki, so she offered him a little smile. She was sorry that he'd gotten caught up in that, but there was nothing she could do about it now as she turned her gaze forward and gently guided her mother home.

Author's Note: I'm surprised no one guessed last chapter that Ryuto was Gumi's son. Instead, you all jumped to a different conclusion, it seems. Well, thank you for all the reviews and please review whenever you can! It really cheers me on and helps me figure out what I need to work on.